Changing The Ink in the Pen

Pretty amazing that we are a month into the season, and what we thought would be the strength of the team has now become its biggest problem. I’m of course talking about the Indians bullpen. Back in February I wrote “The bullpen could be the best the Tribe has had since the 2005 lock-down crew with Bob Howry, Raffy Betancourt, Arthur Rhodes, Scott Sauerbeck, and Bob Wickman.” I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I figured Jensen Lewis’ finish to the ’08 season would carry over. I figured the ’08 version of Rafael Betancourt was the exception, not the rule. I figured Rafael Perez would continue to be his dominant self from the left side. I figured Joe Smith would be the perfect “different look” compliment to the big three in front of new closer Kerry Wood. I figured Adam Miller would finally live up to all the hype and be throwing heat wherever Eric Wedge would need him. What I didn’t figure on was that all of these guys would either be hurt or perform so poorly. Lets recap:

Heading into Spring, conventional thinking had the bullpen looking like this:

Closer – Kerry Wood

Setup – Rafael Perez (L), Jensen Lewis (R), Rafael Betancourt (R)

Middle – Joe Smith (R), Masa Kobayashi (R), Adam Miller (R)

Miller couldn’t make it through half of camp, lost to another finger-injury which now has him lost for the season and threatens his once promising pitching career. Kobayashi couldn’t find the plate with a compass, and Perez missed half of camp thanks to the World Baseball classic. In the wake of the Miller injury, a race for the final spot was on between Zach Jackson and non-roster invitees Vinnie Chulk and Matt Herges. In the end, with the uncertainty of the rotation, Wedge and GM Mark Shapiro decided to keep a long man – The Zach Attack.

On opening day, the bullpen looked like this:

Closer – Kerry Wood

Setup – Rafael Perez (L), Jensen Lewis (R), Rafael Betancourt (R)

Middle – Joe Smith (R), Masa Kobayashi (R)

Long – Zach Jackson (L)

After just two starts, the man who won the 5th starter sweepstakes, Scott Lewis, was moved to the DL with elbow trouble. The pen had a miserable showing from the pen, so the brass called for reinforcements in the form of Chulk, who pitched well during the Spring. He was immediately thrown into the fire. Aaron Laffey was to take Lewis’ spot in the rotation, but which reliever would be sent out? None, it turned out. The Wahoos went to a 13 man staff.

That was just the beginning of the revolving door. With Lewis and Perez looking like the second coming of Jose Jimenez and Scott Stewart, roles were moved. The first shot as the set up man was given to Joe Smith. That didn’t work. Smith, who is tough on righties, clearly couldn’t get the job done, carrying a 7.11 ERA with him in his eight appearances before heading to the DL. That brought up highly touted lefty Tony Sipp up. Sipp, save for his last outing, has been impressiveve, but he is coming off of Tommy John surgery and isn’t supposed to be pitching in back to back games according to the Tribe brass. So that leaves the late inning roles for a combination of Lewis, Betancourt, and Perez, who was still trying to find himself in a middle relief role.

Here is how the bullpen looked on April 21st:

Closer – Kerry Wood

Setup –  Joe Smith (R), Rafael Betancourt (R), Tony Sipp (L)

Middle – Rafael Perez (L), Jensen Lewis (R),Vinnie Chulk (R), Masa Kobayashi (R)

Lewis would pitch one day and get the job done, and then fail miserably in the next two. His fastball was flat and his breaking pitches hung. His numbers tell his story. In 13 appearances, spanning 13 2/3 IP, Jenny has given up six home runs, and has an ERA of 5.93. Perez, thrust back into the key set up role, blew two leads in Detroit and Toronto, barely getting his one out in the two combined appearances, and left Tuesday’s seven run seventh debacle with a 15.19 ERA.

With Masa Kobayashi essentially unusable in any sort of close game or key situation and Betancourt (5.14 ERA) being the only somewhat reliable option in front of Kerry Wood (Sipp is still just a rookie with two weeks plus on the job), changes had to be made. After Tuesday’s epic meltdown in Toronto, for the first time in ages, Manager Eric Wedge actually showed real frustration towards his pen and publicly called for moves to be made:

We have to keep working hard to figure out how to get the guys that are here going again. We’ll continue to make changes. We’ll continue to try people whether they’re in Triple-A or not even in this organization. We’ve going to do whatever we have to do to get people down there that we can count on. What’s happening is unacceptable.”

Yesterday, the overhaul continued. Perez, who looked like the best lefty set-up guy in the bigs last year, was shipped out to Columbus in favor of the 39 year old journeyman Herges. That was no surprise – Perez has become an absolute mess who can’t seem to find his slider, his out pitch. The real shocker came about an hour before last night’s game in Boston when GM Mark Shapiro announced that starter Laffey – as good of a performer as the Indians have had in their rotation – was being moved to the bullpen based on need with his spot in the rotation being taken by Jeremy Sowers. Just after the game, the Indians gave “The Regrettable Chulk” his walking papers, designating him for assignment.

It was an interesting move to say the least regarding Laffey. Its almost as if the Indians are robbing Peter to pay Paul. But what other course of action could they take? Said Wedge about why Laffey is being moved to the pen: “He gets ground balls, he’s athletic and he can warm up fast. I won’t hesitate to use him late in the game.” Shappy weighed in as well: “We’re asking Laffey to sacrifice for the team because that’s where we need him the most. He doesn’t deserve to be pulled out of the rotation, but we’re trying to put him in a role that helps the team. If there were easier logical alternatives at Triple-A, we’d make those moves, but they just don’t exist.”

Not what you want to hear if your name is John Meloan.

Meanwhile, Laffey pitched three scoreless innings to record his first career save last night in his first ever regular season relief appearance.

I’m sure this is still a situation in flux, but to sum it all up, take a look at the Indians bullpen as of this morning and tell me this is what you envisioned on May 7th:

Closer – Kerry Wood

Setup –  Rafael Betancourt (R), Tony Sipp (L), Aaron Laffey (L)

Middle – Jensen Lewis (R),Matt Herges (R), Masa Kobayashi (R)

The good news is at least the Indians are starting to hit!

Make sure to check out the latest and greatest Tribe bullpen t-shirts created in the WFNY Store. They include the classic you see at the top of this page.

EDIT: After this story was posted, the agent for reliever Luis Vizcaino per their Twitter page says the Vizcaino is now an Indian. He was designated for assignment by the Cubs in late April.